Joseph Strayhorn, a professor at Drexel University and the University of Pittsburgh, and Jillian Strayhorn sifted through religious data from the Pew Forum’s US Religious Landscapes Survey, income data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, and birth and abortion rates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The states labeled as "religious" have high percentages of people that attend service at least once a week, pray at least once a day, claim to receive a definite answer to a prayer request at least once a month, and believe Scripture should be taken literally, word for word. These are states that have large amounts of people that believe there is only one way to interpret religion and that religion leads to eternal life.
The study suggests a possible explanation: Religious communities are less likely to teach and support contraception, perhaps due to abstinence-only education.
The study suggests a possible explanation: Religious communities are less likely to teach and support contraception, perhaps due to abstinence-only education.
According to a National Public Radio poll, "the historical impetus for abstinence education has come from evangelical or born-again Christians." More than twice as many evangelicals as non-evangelicals believe the government should invest in abstinence-only programs rather than sex education.
It should be noted that this data only applies to the state level, not the individual level. The study does not assume that religious teens get pregnant more often than non-religious teens. It does, however, find an astonishing state-level correlation.
Do you agree with the assumption that abstinence-only programs are to blame? Does religion discourage the use of contraceptives? Are religious women choosing to start families younger than non-religious women?
What do you think?
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Teens and parents of teens should read this article I found on www.pregnancycorner.com called Top 10 Reasons NOT to get Pregnant. It sums it up nicely :)
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